>> this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm tony harris with a look at today's top stories. >> i looked at my boyfriend, and he said those are gunshots. i was, like, run. we literally just ran down the stairs. >> a tsa agent is dead. several other people wounded after a shooting rampage at los angeles international airport. an u.s. drone strike kills the leader of a pakistani taliban. and the prime minister of iraq asks president obama for more help in ending violence in his country. ♪ >> there are still plenty of

questions after a shooting at one of the nation's busiest airports. it happened near a security check point. terminal three at los angeles international airport, one tsa agent was killed, three others were wounded. the gunman was taken into custody after a shootout. officers. the investigators say they don't think anyone else was involved. >> we believe at this point that there was a loan shooter, that he acted at least right now, he was the only person armed in this incident. >> brian rooney joins us live from los angeles international airport. brian, good to see you. if you would, bring us up to speed for the very latest. >> reporter: the airport, tony, is still mostly shutdown. occasionally a flight lands but there is none taking off. i think a passenger just passed me. there was a stream of passengers coming by on the rode way going into the airport, hoping to fly

out sometime today or tonight. but airport operations are still not back to normal. we talked to some of the passengers, and they've been getting very little direction in what to do or where to go. >> i'm really disappointed with the airport because they're not giving any instructions to the passengers. we're all lost at this point in time. so we're actually expected for them to give us some information. everyone is waiting. everyone is waiting. i'm running out of my battery already, so there is no way to get this touch with relatives. >> we were delayed getting off the airport for 20, 25 minutes. finally the folks at the terminal let us off. we still didn't understand that there was much of is problem until we got out and there was no ground transportation moving at all. we decided to walk to the

airport and try to find ground transportation. >> reporter: tony, we're still waiting for details about what did happen. this occurred 9:20 this morning. the police have not fully identified exactly who the shooter was, although they have him in custody, and they know who he is. but it is not been announced to the public. it seems that the shooting was targeted towards tsa employees, but we do not know exactly why. they say there was a gun battle in the airport. we don't know the details of that, how many shots may have been fired exactly how it all went down. they said a total of seven people were injured by gunfire. six of them went to the hospital. the hospital held a press conference a while ago to give some information about several people that they have at the hospital. >> brian, what are we learning about the conditions of those victims?

>> reporter: just general condition of them. they're not giving any details. we know that they're told that the shooter was hit. we don't know what his condition is, but maybe we have that from the hospital now. >> we received three male victims here at ronald reagan ucla medical center. we're level one trauma center. we're trained to take care of this. we're on the ready. we have plenty of staff, plenty of personnel and plenty of blood for those we received. right now one of those patients are in critical condition and two of those patients are in fair condition. >> reporter: that's just general condition. under current of law they're not allowed to tell us what shape toes people are in. there is still a lot to learn at lax, and we hope that it will unfold in the hours to come. it will be a while, and it will be hours before this airport is up and running normally. >> brian rooney for us at los angeles international

airport. we're learning more first-hand accounts who were in the airport when the gunman started shooting. >> everyone just dropped to the ground and started crawling along, staying as low as possible. basically, everyone was just climbing over each other. we were pinned in where the guy was shooting, and tsa main security. >> i turned around, and there was a young man who was in an tsa agent outfit who was holding his abdomen area, and there was blood on his hands. >> the police came charging towards me, and hands up, they handcuffed me and left me on the ground. >> i was freaking out. i was really shaken up. i didn't expect--i mean, going on vacation you don't expect to deal with that kind of stuff. i was freaking out. >> they came back at a certain point and uncuffed me where they checked my bags and made sure i didn't have any weapons. >> i heard gunshots and we all

just went down to the ground. a few seconds later i saw him come up the elevator and walk by 10 feet away from me with his gun pointed, and he continued up the terminal. >> wow. so some of the most vivid images from the afternoon have come from social media. maria has been following that for us. she joins us now with more. >> reporter: we just want you to look at bradley terminal. jonathan paul has tweeted this picture. he said, terminal one employees are being released, freeing up some seats. also earlier he tweeted this picture, red cross food arriving for a thousand people locked down at lax bradley. also tory, a host of blow it up, he has been tweeting--he tweeted this recently. they are now releasing people from terminal one and two from

the secured bay, but holding all of us from terminal three. that's just 23 minutes that he tweeted that picture. you can also see the crowds here. right now security is releasing airport employees from the holding area. josh has tweeted this, a lot of people are just feeling exhausted. he tweeted this. fbi here now. feeling tired and exhausted. and earlier tom donnelly tweeted these photos of what appears to be the scene of the crime. look at this picture. you can see all the police over in this area. and you can also see the weapon over there to the left. and you'll see a picture much closer up right there. you see the gun right there on the ground and the police officers, tony. >> i can't imagine what it must have been like for the passengers in that airport today. >> reporter: yes. >> individuals, couples, families with children traveling on a friday.

thank you. >> joining me now from washington, d.c. to talk about the security response to today ace deadly incident is jj green. jj, good to see you as always. >> good to be here. >> i want you to put everyone in the mind of the teams who are working this kind of thing. and talk to us about the mobilization that takes place, the training that these officers, the tsa agents, everyone involved in a situation like this. what is the training of these people go there to handle a situation like this at a major airport? >> well, they're constantly trained and taught to respond to situations that are out of the ordinary. when they hear shots or hear something that sounds like shots they're supposed to respond. but even before that happens they spend a lot of time looking around at situations around them to make sure that nothing is out of the order. when something is they know exactly what to do. they have very good firearms

training. they have very good response training to situations and violent situations. this is the situation in the l.a.x. that is unfolding in a matter of moments. a lot of very series decisions have to be made by the authority that is in control at the airport. who to call. the fbi, they're obviously local police involved. other authority that have to be involved. they all have to be done correctly in order to make sure that that situation i understand as best it possibly can. >> i was reminded. i don't know why it didn't hit me bleedly. it didn't take me long that we're talking about a major international airport here. and you know what kind of echos you start to see, hear in your mind when we start talking about the international airport, particularly living in a major city like new york city. i'm wondering when you have that mix, we're used to seeing in recent history, sadly, these

kinds of events, movies, the like, talk about the national security element when it comes to play in a situation like this at another major international airport. >> this airport is a part of the national transportation system. so that makes it automatically an issue of national security concern. you're going to have the fbi. you're probably going to have federal organizations. tsa involved. you're going to again have the local police involved. and you're going to have this question that comes up is there a nexus to terrorism anything beyond an isolated situation. that has to be dealt with very quickly. if you remember back to that situation that took place in december in detroit with the northwest flight that was landing there with the underwear bomber there, a lot of stuff happened in just a few minutes. all of these pieces had to be

put together very quickly by all of these players. so there is a very well oiled machine at work here, and a very well choreographed situation unfolding in the background. as these early moments of these kinds of situations unfold like the one that unfolded at lax today. >> yeah, the northwest flight. jj, as always, great to see you. glad to have you on the program with your thoughts. thank you. the u.s. will work to help make iraq safer. that's what president obama told iraqi prime minister norial maliki at the white house today. the meeting came on the heels of a u.n. report that said that nearly a thousand iraqis died during violence in october. let's go to mike viqueira at the white house, mike, tell us about that meeting today. what was the prime minister asking for? >> reporter: well, he's asking

for weapons. he's asking for american weapons systems to fight the violence that he and the white house lay squarely at the feet of taliban. there are some who say no,al maliki is response as well involving the sunniy shiite and kurd violence. more than 7,000 iraqi versus died in violence over the course of this year alone, that's an estimated figure. al maliki asked for weapons systems to help. >> throughout this discussion the main theme was tha theme wai

communicated to the prime minister that anything that we can do to help bring about that more hopeful future for iraq is something that we want to work on. welcome, mr. prime minister, thank you so much for coming. >> the white house saying again today which should be clear to everyone there is going to be no more american troops on the ground. no more american troops. al maliki did not allow any residual force, over the horizon force when that agreement was being negotiated some two years ago, and nowal maliki is facing a situation where his country is being torn apart by this violence and he's asking for more american systems, not more

american troops. >> thank you. a drone strike has killed the leader of the taliban in pakistan. he had a $5 million bounty on his head. >> reporter: according to our sources we are told that the attack took place very close to the border. at the time he had said to have been riding in a vehicle. he was being accompanied by one of his uncles, a close aid, and a driver. he is said to have been getting out of the vehicle to be precise according to our sources when up to four missiles struck that particular compound, and he is reported to have been killed. the taliban now are admitting it. local pakistani television networks are saying that his funeral will be held at about 10 gmt tomorrow, which is saturday.

so, indeed, the confirmation is coming in, and of course this may prove to be a game changer. >> after five days of negotiations there is no clarity on whether the various sides in the syrian conflict will attend the u.n. summit in geneva, called geneva 2. the envoy is in syria now. they said the rebels need to unite and send one delegation. the united nations was hoping to convene those talks this month. earlier i spoke at length with dr. leslie geld. he said the united states does not have an end game in syria. >> when i think about u.s. strategy in syria, i think there is no strategy at all. if you listen to the senators yesterday in the hearing, almost every one of them, republicans

and democrats, agreed on that. the essence of it is this. we can't win the war in syria ourselves. i don't know anyone who believes we can. if we were to have any real influence there, we're going to need the cooperation of a lot of our friends and allies in the region, and the cooperation of russia and iran as well. otherwise it's just not going to work. and the first step toward getting that kind of cooperation for reduced resistence to what we're trying to achieve is to have a plausible strategy for the region. if you go out and talk to the leaders in the region, i know you have, they say they don't understand what the administration is trying to do. if you're going put together a coherent strategy in syria you have to start with this question. who is the biggest threat to u.s. interests and to the u.s.

of u.sinterests of u.s. allies e region? who do we have to worry about most? is it assad? the fact of the matter he is a bad guy and he has done bad things. but the truth of the matter are their neighbors, including israel, were relatively happy with him. he was not regarded as a major threat to jordan, turkey, israel and so forth. if you ask them who is the biggest threat to you? they will all agree on that. they will say it's al-qaeda al nuskra, the jihadi rebels. this is the basis for cooperation between alowites and mad ratmoderate sunnis. it is that corporation tha coopi

want them to think about and think about ending the war. because the way it's heading right now there is no end to it. >> meteorologist: hello, i'm meteorologist kvin corriveau. the storm we've been talking about all weeken week long is am that was bringing wind damage to many places. these are those yellow dots that you see. all along the you had south, coastal regions of new england, and new jersey, and also across the great lakes and into parts of new york. now the winds are quite high with this storm. this is what it looked like a lot of people were cleaning up the foilage, not many left on the trees, but these are the these are the winds across new york, and up into ontario. it was this morning around

10:00 that it was a real problem here acros across the coastal r, and we're looking at watches and warnings across the northern part of the area. this will go on for the next couple of hours. >> all right, kevin, thank you. just six people signed up--six?--for the affordable care act on day one of the enrollment. we'll look at what that means for obamacare in the long run. also coming up, holiday shopping on the day after halloween. how retailers are stretching the season.

>> so the number of people who signed up for healthcare via the troubled federal website was

minuscule in the first couple of days of the website's life. according to house committee that released early numbers it is in the low hundreds. but here's the question, how does that number stack up to the first weeks of obamacare? how does it stack up to those who signed up for romney care back in 2006? al jazeera's john terrett has been investigating for us. >> you gave it away just now. >> reporter: the healthcare.gov is sick. we know that. we've seen it since it launched back on october 1st. that's not really news. what is news is we're getting a hint of how sick this site through which people 36 states purchase healthcare under the new law might begin in the early days. on the beginning day, six people, total six people had signed up and enrolled for

healthcare under the obamacare laws. by the second day, october 2nd, much better, more than 100 people had signed up, and then only 248 have signed up at the end of that second day october 2nd. we know this because the house oversight and government reform committee have released these figures. it's a problem because the government expected 7 million people in order to balance the books on this obamacare to sign up by 2014. so 7 million, six, you see a big issue going on there. there is precedence for this. because mitt romney, who introduced healthcare legislation known as romney care introduced to massachusetts back in 2006 also faced a weak start. only 123 people signed up for the bay state's healthcare plan after the first month. by the end of the first year

36,000 people had signed up. but figures tell us that 20% of those left their enrollment to the final month, until the 11th hour effectively before penalties were not having healthcare kicked in. tony, healthcare dot goff may well be in intensive care for now, but the prognosis to keep the medical puns going, but before you take it back daniel our graphics artist did this as a present for you. it's been a long week of news. and this is the healthcare site. it has a little thermometer in its mouth because it is clearly sick. >> we're on fire. appreciate that, and pass along the thanks. appreciate it. >> okay, halloween is barely over but itnot stop retailers from getting a jump on black

friday a month earlier than usual. great detail coming up on this program. "real money" at the top of the hour, but we've got him for a couple of minutes. ali, why are we seeing deals. >> why did you stop that conversation with john? that's better than anything i could possibly tell you. this is weird. every year this gets weirder. retailers pushing things back and most of the time it's a gimmick. this time it's actually not. there are three particular things at play. first of all, the time between black friday, starts the morning after thank you, and christmas, is shorter than it typically is. so you'll have less than a month of shopping. they have to sell more stuff in less time. it's bad whether weather. people stay home, whatever the case is. they're worried. number two, big ticket items have been on fire for months,

and they're worried that that will take away sales from soft lines that you buy. those are hard lines. but the soft lines that you typically buy for christmas. if people buy appliances, whether they do it? and then number three, consumer confidence has been going down. first it was interest rates going up. but then you know that government shutdown and the stupid budget battles, they cause people to worry. you know, retailers are very, very concerned that shoppers may not shop as much. >> okay so that consumer confidence number that we've been talking about here, that's a big one here. how is i difficult of a holiday season might we see. >> well remember we're americans. we always shop better than before. in 2012 trees 3.6% higher than the previous year.

so a 1.3% increase will make it the slowest holiday sales growth in five years. which means for you and everybody watching you, tony, they predict this will be the most promotional holiday season since the dark days of the recession. everything was on sell. you could go in and buy the furnishings and fittings of stores back then. you're going to see good deals. >> that's what i want, deep, deep, discounts. >> reporter: can i pass on something. that shot of you sitting at the desk, it looks like that woman is going to fall asleep on your shoulder. look over your left shoulder. she's like right there. she looks like she's going to--come on, stay with he. >> reporter: i know it's slow moving, but it's not that slow moving. >> nothing slow moving about this man's show. "real money with ali velshi." how did i do with that? >> reporter: that was good. >> coming up here on al jazeera

america. ♪ 31 >> michael eaves is here with a look at sports. >> reporter: players are making the headlines for the wrong reasons. justin blackman has been suspended indefinitely without pay for another violation of the nfl substance abuse problem. blackman was previously suspended the first four games of this season for violating that policy making this at least the third violation in 18 months. in baseball the new york yankees signed derek jeter to a contract guaranteeing that the 39-year-old shortstop will play his entire career with the yankees. career leader in hits, games and stolen bases and part of five world championship teams. and speaking of contracts, los angeles lakers kobe bryant received a lump payment of $24 million today which equates

to 80% of his $30 million salary for the season. that salary ranked second for all time michael's jordan's $33.1 million with the chicago bulls back in 1998. well, we'll have more sports news later including a look at the most important college football game of the gleeked a gunshot at a crowded airport terminal coming up with th the latest of a shooting death of a tsa agent at lax. they're neither boys or girls. a third gender is recognized for babies.

>> welcome back, everyone, to al jazeera america. here is a look at your top stories. the fbi has identified the gunmen that has opened fired at the los angeles international airport. 23-year-old paul ciancia in los angeles is accused open

firing at a security checkpoint. a tsa agent was killed and other tsa agents were injured. the alleged gunman was taken into custody after an alleged shoot out with police officers. president obama said that the u.s. will do what it can to help keep iraq safer. and president obama urged mr. pe minister maliki to hold elections later next year. pakistan taliban leader reported dead: more on the top story, the shooting at los angeles international airport. brian rooney, this is still the case now, plenty of questions that need to be answered.

l.a.x. as you know is a very busily airport. what is the situation there right now? >> reporter: there is still a hold on airport traffic. just a few moments ago an airplane landed but they're not taking off. passengers, and you may see one walking behind me are going into the airport hoping to take off time today or tonight, but right now that's not happening. >> and brian, we have identification on the shooter at this point. if you could walk us back through what are you hearing? what have you heard of people coming out of the airport about what's been described as a chaotic scene when all of this was actually taking place and going down? >> reporter: i've been unable to talk to anybody who witnessed the shooting exactly. the chaos that ensued for travelers afterwards is that they were told very little about what had happened.

the airport shut down. no vehicles were coming in and out, and there was no transportation. that's what caused this migration of thousands of travelers that we've seen going by us with rolling bags going out on the avenues, looking for hotels, looking for transportation and others still coming in looking to get an airplane. we don't know that much about the shooter at this point. >> brian rooney for us at lax. we appreciate it. joining me now from boston for more on the security response at lax is al jazeera's transportation contributor, todd curtis. you told me a bit over an hour ago that this could have been a lot worse. i think intuitively we all know that's true, but i'm curious you were thinking. what scenarios were running through your mind in making that statement? >> well, the primary thing is the layout that have particular terminal. if you've seen some of the

layouts of this terminal you have the security area several hundred feet were the main terminal area. apparently he made it all the way from the security checkpoint down a long highway, into a food court area where police officials say later where he was confronted. this is where several airplane gates were and where several passengers were. potentially this could have been much worse if he had been able to get off more shots. even though there was massive security at airports, and even at smaller airports it does take time to response. and in this case this alleged gunman was determined enough to make his way into an area where he could have wreaked all sorts of havoc. that's typical of most airports. >> what's the learning moment here? >> well, there are several areas of learning for the law enforcement folks, of course, even though they do scenarios all the time of single gunmen,

multi. multiple attacksers, etc. this is going to be in analysis afterwards and law enforcement all over the country, not just at airports, will learn from this. but another learning moment is for passengers. here's a situation where there was chaos. in and around an area with hundreds of passengers. and judging by some of the earlier reports a lot of passengers did the right thing. they took shelter. they took emergency exits to get away from the violence, and when police came into the area to clear the area they followed the law enforcement officials directions and exited the area. they didn't complain or fight back. a lot of problem that happened both immediately afterwards and the hours afterwards is getting information. you pointed out how social media played a role. social media played a very positive role of allowing

passengers to have some semblance of what was going on. and many didn't show up at the airport and stayed out of the way of the law enforcement because they were well aware of what was goingen. >> as i'm watching this unfolding, and i'm watching the breaking news at al jazeera america, we're talking about an international airport here. we're talking about someone who made it a lot farther in the direction of an actual aircraft than a lot of us would have thought possible before this happened today. which raises the spector of does there need to be another security level? i'm thinking about how horrible this might have been if this young man had been able to make his way on to an aircraft. >> that's certainly one of the things that will be looked at by the tsa, fbi, and other law

enforcement organizations. is the security that exists right now, several layers came to play at red sox ax i--severae to play at lax, and there was a group of people who have a desire to make their way to an airplane at the risk of their own life, they will try to do so. >> todd curtis, al jazeera's transportation contributor. thank you. iraqi prime minister nouri al-maliki's visit to the white house, and the reaction it has been generating. joining me now is james jeffy, former ambassador to iraq, and he joins me now in washington, d.c. ambassador, good to see you.

first question, let me dive right into this. could the problems that iraq is seeing right now have been mitigated, i'm not going to suggest solved, but mitigated if the prime minister had found a he way to resolve this before the u.s. troops left the country. >> i suggested that we should leave a small force for traini training. certainly more american trainers and equipment would have been helpful. but much of what we see is the result of the spillover of the war in syria. with or without a small american force in country we would have had to deal with this resurgence of al-qaeda. >> that's interesting. to what degree do you believe the prime minister is responsible for some of the problems that he is now experiencing within the country?

some are suggesting and have suggested for quite awhile now that he has behaved in a very sectarian way, marginalizing the sunni minority in his country. >> there is no doubt that many of these accusations bear at least some truth. that said, the underlying problem is that iraq has three separate groups. the kurds, the sunni arabs and shiite arabs. the country remains a constitutional democracy, and it has not collapsed under the weight of this horrific set of terrorist attacks. you have not hav seen from the majority. which is different from years

ago. iraqi forces have 700 to 800 troops, what we need to provide is intelligence. not just lots of data, but how you fuse that data with operators. some training, some equipment, some of which would help you spot some of these guys, monitor their communications. things we did very effectively in iraq a few years ago we could bring in without significant deployment of u.s. forces, and put them under the embassy's sovereign immunities. >> one last question for you. why is it in u.s. interests, in your opinion, to help iraq out of this situation? i'm thinking about the region as i ask this question. >> president obama answered that in his speech at the u.n.

general say systembly. iraq is critical to the united states and to the world because it's a breeding ground for terror. it is a breeding ground for weapons of mass destruction breakout. it is central to the world energy supplies, and we'll have to care about that for a long time, and it is a communication center for many of our friends and allies located right in the crosshairs of al-qaeda. it's important that he's supported by the american people. >> thank you for being with us. state of alert has been declared in egypt as authorities prepare for the trial of deposed president mohamed morsi. 20,000 extra soldiers are sent to guard the trial in cairo. meanwhile protesters in alexandria where police arrested 60 demonstrators. john kerry is expected to arrive the day before morsi is to appear in court. kerry acknowledged that the nsa

sometimes oversteps its mission. he made that comment while defending the nsa surveillance work. kerry said the agency has done beyond what is necessary to keep the country safe. >> and in some cases i acknowledge to you as has the president that some of these actions reach too far and we'll make sure that that does not happen in the future. >> nsa leaker edward snowdon has offered to investigate the phone capping of german chancellor angela merkel. he spoke with the german official and gave a letter to hihim. germany is the first

european country to recognize this third gender. >> reporter: neither a boy nor girl, daniel la said she spent her life in fear, pain and shame because of doctors' decisions. now she's trying to make sure that the same doesn't happen to anyone else. >> i was born with so said ambiguous genitalia. the doctors could not tell me if i was a boy or girl. at two and a half months they threw my testicles in the garbage. when i was seven years old they cut my genitals to make me look more like a girl. the doctors always lied to me and to my parents. >> reporter: it's estimated fewer than one out of a thousand babies are born with no clear gender characteristics. doctors still carry out procedures like daniela suffered

and wants to stop this. >> we need to raise awareness among hospitals and medical staffs. we need to make sure that parents are not pushed to make decisions that children will blame them for later. we need to wait for the child to grow up. >> reporter: there are questions of what it will mean to live with no legal gender in germany. australia already allows the intersects but europe is close to change. >> after refusing to accept help from international experts the head of japan's fukushima power station has agreed to help and work with the u.s. department of energy to clean up the site. the president of tokyo electric

power company announced that they will work with the u.s. to safely de commission the plant that was destroyed in 2011 from the tsunami. it came as the u.s. secretary inspected the plant. the international community has been concerned that the plant may have another catastrophic event. l.a. under rail for three hours. that's a step closer to reality. california's bullet train back on track, and michael eaves is here with the day's sports news. whether its bail-outs or bond rates this stuff get complicated. but don't worry. i'm here to take the fear out of finance. every night on my show i break down confusing financial speak and make it real.

determining using some sort of subjective interpretation of their policy as to whether or not your particular report was actually abusive, because if it doesn't contain language that specifically threatens you directly or is targeted towards you specifically, they may not consider it abuse. they may consider it offensive. and in that case they just recommend that you block that person. >> i don't want to minimise this, because i mean, there's some really horrible things that are on line, and it's not - it's not just twitter, what has happened through social media and the anonymity of the net is that you see websites, hate-filled websites targetting all sorts of groups, popping up. there has been a huge number of those that exist as well.

(vo) tonight ... >> does the nsa collect any type of data on millions of americans? >> no sir. (vo) fault lines investigates what it's like to live under the watchful eye of the nsa. >> they know everything that you do, everything that you think, everything that you fear. they know how to manipulate and control you. the state has all the power. >> we have done more to destroy our way of life than the terrorists could ever have done. >> how about this? after years of indecision and political battles the united states is finely making a move

to catch up with europe and asia, and in one field work has begun on a high speed rail system in california. it will be the first in the nation and the largest in this project in the country. the plan is to connect los angeles to san francisco in under three hours at up to 220 mph. the system would eventually extend to sacramento and san diego when finished. it would stretch 800 miles. planners want work to begin in california's central valley, the state's most depressed region, the central valley has some of the highest unemployment rates in the country, up to 10%, and it is more populous than 38 of the 50 states. the real authority says the rail project would create 50,000 jobs over the next five year. >> reporter: not much happens in the city of fresno sitting in the middle of the state some say in the middle of nowhere.

it's residents have long felt neglected in downtown and it's outskirts are signs of the daily struggles. but in this dilapidated unglamorous part of california things might be picking up speed. this is the future. a vision of an electric high speed rail whipping through town. ambitious with a state in love with automobiles. >> we would be connecting all of california together. >> reporter: this does not look like the kind of place you would expect the first high speed train in the country to be built, but california and the federal government wants to start in one of the poorest regions of the state. the purpose of the train is not only to move people but to jump start the economy. the city hopes to turn it's unemployed into a dedicated force to along along the railroad over the next decade

and beyond. you're looking at the first group of trainees in this program. many here have spent their lives working odd jobs, now they'll learn tools of the trade for a permanent career. >> i was out of work, raising my little daughters. i'm a single father, so this opportunity is exciting for me for the possibility. >> reporter: even though you wouldn't expect to welcome the project have put the greater good above personal interest. the printing business will make way for the tracks. >> my family is all here. we all grew up here. so i have a lot of fondness for the area. i would like to see it progress, though. this is an opportunity for us to do just that. >> reporter: but most residents remain skeptical. this is a conservative enclave in a generally were you state. people here distrust big government.

>> we have labo other issues tht start with water. to go from thwart high speed rail. >> none of these projects, government projects are within budget. believe me this thing has a lot of crony capitalism. >> reporter: for a century all that central valleyly has ever known has been agriculture. that has driven its economy. it has made men rich, yet kept most here poor. this is seen as a season of change. >> michael receives here with a day of sports. now that the games are behind, major league baseball, it's now time to get down to the business of baseball. >> reporter: yes because you have to think about next season and try to win that season.

derek jeter has been the central cog in the yankees world series machine. the 39-year-old signed an one. year $12 million contract virtually guaranteeing a 20th and final season in new york pinstripes. he was limited to eight games due to off-season ankle surgery. over the course of his 19-year career jeter earned 13 trips to the all-star game and became the yankees leader in hits, stolen bases and won five world series as well. now most league insiders believe there are eight legitimate teams to win this season's titles that includes the los angeles clippers when they hosted their rival golden state royals. this game saw chris paul do

something that has never been seen in history. 42 points, 15 assists and 6 steals. no player has amassed those totals in the same game prior to 1973-74 season. one other note, a huge payday for kobe bryant receiving $24 million of his $30.5 million salary in one check. he was allowed to take 80% of this year's salary with one up front payment. his contract ranks second to michael jordan's deal with the bulls back in 1998. now two unbeaten top ten ngo teams that a meet up saturday. number three hosting seventh ranked miami. thjessica taff asked graham watn

on whether the hurricanes have a better chance in this game than most people seem to think? >> i think miami is a good team. they are an undefeated team, but florida state has just shown that they're superior to a lot of competition on their schedule, and i think you're going to see the same here against miami. the key is to make miami one dimensional. the quarterback has had trouble throwing the ball over, and if they're forced to pass the ball i think they'ring about to be in a lot of trouble. if floor state can win, and they'll win this handily. >> you know, i think this is a game they can win. tennessee is having to play a freshman quarterback because their real guy is hurt, and it's at missouri. this is a good bounce back game.

missouri still has everything to play for. so i sigh them doing well in this game, and getting back on track and preparing for the afc east. >> let's talk about illinois wastable fly under the radar all season. even with their quarterback lynch was i believe to put up monster numbers. any chance he can sneak in the heisman race? >> this is the same conversation we had about jordan lynch last year. the problem with jordan lynch, he puts up amazing numbers against bad. competition. it's not his fault. it's who he plays. i think he's a terrific quarterback. i think he has all the skills to be a heisman contender. but i just don't think he'll have enough juice hyped his schedule to push him into new york.

>> these two teams look to be on the collision course for the bcs championship game. any chance either fall short in this chase? >> i think we're going to see a lot from these teams next week. you have oregon playing stanford next thursday and alabama facing lsu on saturday. i think those two games are going to be very telling in these two schedules. those two be the most dangerous games for both teams. oregon has a game that will trip them up, but this next weekend will be the up where earn is looking out. i definitely think that these teams are on a collision course for the national title. >> each game means so much because they don't have a national title. >> thank you. when we come back kevin is here with more nasty weather on the east coast.

>> audiences are intelligent

this is the 900-page document

we call obamacare. my staff has read the entire thing. can congress say the same? >> meteorologist: hello again. i told you earlier about the rain that is now exiting parts of new england. we're finally starting to see a breakdown towards the south. behind all of this rain we're getting colder temperatures. you can see in chicago, 49 degrees is what we're seeing right now. that's a little pass the high of the day. that's a big tool of cold air moving across the great lakes that will make its way east as well as down here towards the south. for new york this is what it looks like as we go for the next couple of days. saturday at 66 degrees. then we start to go down. on sunday, 50, overnight lows 35. some places outside of the city will get to freezing. that will be a little bit up to the north as well as most of

new england is going to have freezing temperatures as well. that's going to even lower to a high of 48. finally coming back up as we get to the middle of the week. atlanta, you're breaking out as well. the showers are beginning to break up across the coastal regions. florida, you still have six to eight hours of showers moving to the north. now up towards the northwest seattle, you've had some very nice weather earlier this week. things are going to change. a system coming out of the pacific is going to do this for you. rain showers on saturday and sunday. maybe a break on monday, but the rain is back in as we come towards tuesday. temperatures are really not getting any warmer than 50. here is a look at your national weather. have a great evening.

>> this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm tony harris with a look at today's top stories. the fbi has identified the alleged gunman in the los angeles international airport shooting. the police say 23-year-old paul ciensea at open fired at a security checkpoint. one tsa agent was killed and several others injured. the leader of the taliban in pakistan was was killed. the u.s. had a $5 million budget on his head. he was killed after attending a gathering of 25 taliban leaders who were